Friday, July 23, 2010

Portugal's Drug Laws Under "New Scrutiny" According to a Wall St. Journal Headline (20 July)

While most reports of the major liberalization initiated in the country 10 years ago have been decidedly positive, and even though Portugal is now looked on as a model by several other countries who are considering emulating their success, the article refers to the negative data of the past decade. It concludes by quoting a senior member of the EMCDDA staff (based in Lisbon) warning that "Now that the epidemic [of drugs] is under control, people start asking ... what is going to happen next? There is a part of the population who do not have the possibility of leaving the treatment." Precisely the same questioning, of course, has been heard in many countries of the world - none more insistently and harshly than Scotland.